Daryl Atkins

Daryl Atkins

Daryl Atkins was born in a small town called Hampton, Virginia. He was the oldest of many siblings and they all seemed to look up to their big brother. Unfortunately, by the time Daryl was seven years old his parents got a divorce. This paid a toll on the family financially. When Daryl’s father left, his mother picked up a second job to be the breadwinner of her large family. Daryl had many significant issues academically. He flunked out of the third grade twice. He then made his way through the rest of elementary school and middle school barley scraping by. His grades consisted mostly of D’s and F’s, and the occasional C. By the time he reached high school, a teacher noticed his extreme struggles with the easiest assignments.
She took it upon herself to teach Daryl more simple and useful things he could utilize in the real world. She taught him simple everyday uses like reading a menu and reading road signs. During his freshman year in high school, he played on the football team. Despite his abilities to run fast and catch, he was kicked off the team. The coach kicked him off because he was incapable of learning the plays and he couldn’t decipher his left from his right. Everything went downhill from there. He made a close connection to his neighbor, William Jones, who was eight years older than he. Atkins looked up to Jones because he lacked a father figure, but Jones was a terrible person to look up to. He got into drugs during this time. He smoked marijuana, drank alcohol, and did crack. He had also participated in a string of robberies at this point. By the time he was 18, and in the tenth grade, he dropped out of school with no job and no plan for the future. On August 16, 1996, Atkins and Jones went into a nearby 7/11 with a barrowed shotgun. They were planning to rob the convenient store until they spotted Airmen Eric Nesbit. They watched Nesbit walk to his truck and they forced themselves inside when Nesbit got in. Jones drove the car while Atkins went through the man’s wallet. Unhappy with the sixty dollars found in the wallet, the trio went to an ATM machine to draw two hundred dollars out of Nesbit’s account. After taking this money, they took Nesbit to an isolated location and they fatally shot him, eight times. Atkins and Jones were quickly tracked down and apprehended because of the ATM machine’s video surveillance. Both men claimed the other had fired the weapon. So there was confusion on how to do the sentencing, until Atkins confessed to cellmate that he had fired the gun. Williams was offered a life sentence instead of the death penalty in return for testifying against Atkins. Of course, he took this deal. During penalty phase of trial, the defense presented Atkins IQ test to the jury. His IQ was a 59. To put this in perspective, that’s about the IQ for an elementary school student. He was labeled Mildly Mentally Retarded. But the jury still found him guilty, and he was sentenced to the death penalty. But on June 22, 2002, Atkins V Virginia, the Supreme Court held that execution of people with mental retardation is unconstitutional due to the 8th Amendment. It is considered cruel and unusual punishment. In the ruling they decided the goal of retribution isn’t served by imposing death on someone with less capacity to understand why they are being put to death. So Atkins is serving a life sentence in prison because of his mental ailment. Many theories are applicable to Daryl Atkins. I’ll start with Social Disorganization Theory. This theory definitely applies. Atkins grew up in poverty, in a bad part of town. He also had a broken home; his father left at age 7, and his mother had to work two jobs and never was home. So there was ultimately no social control in the household. He was overlooked in school, and teachers didn’t even notice something wrong with him until high school. Along with the bad influences of Jones, all these factors probably contributed to his life of crime. Differential Association Theory and Social Learning Theory also apply.
He was exposed to pro-criminal definitions through out his life from his peers. He looked up to William Jones, who would take him to frequently rob stores without getting caught. This reinforced his criminal behavior and encouraged him to keep pursuing that life style. Another theory that applies to Atkins is the Strain Theory. His family, as mentioned many times before, was poverty stricken. He robed in order to obtain money for food, clothes, and other wants and needs. Also, his mental retardation made it difficult to verbalize what he wanted or needed. So that must’ve put on the most strain of all. Atkins definitely had a lack of self-control. He sloppily did as Jones directed, without question. Also, in regards to him never learning self-control, this could be due to his mother. She wasn’t around to enforce curfews, monitor his behavior, or tell him no. All of these are factors leading to a person without self-control. Social Bond theory also applies. He has a lack of attachment to anyone, besides his dysfunctional relationship to Jones. He was involved with football and school, but of course he quit both. And as got commitment and belief, he literally did not have the mentally capacity to partake in
either. Rational Choice theory could be played both ways in the case of Atkins. Yes, he was willful in the choices he made. No one person made him do something he did not wish to do. But then again, people diagnosed with mental retardation often do things or say things, just to please surrounding people, or adults. Routine Activity doesn’t apply here. They didn’t even know Nesbit was going to be at the 7/11, let alone what time and his schedule. I believe Atkins was life course persistent. This theory works due to the fact that he started young with drugs, worked his way up to robbery, and finally to murder. But who knows when he would of stopped because of his imprisonment. This particular offender never explained or justified his actions using any forms of neutralization. I believe the crimes of Daryl Atkins could have been 100% prevented. I believe that if he has a closer relationship to his mother, special help in school, and involvement in extracurricular activities then he would have turned out different. I especially think that if he was diagnosed mentally retarded at an early age, then all this would have never happened. He would have gotten the attention and help he needed in order to be a normal fully functioning member of society.

Anne James. (2011). International Justice Project. Retrieved from http://www.internationaljusticeproject.org/retardationdatkins.cfm

Richard Dieter. ( 02). Death penalty information center. Retrieved from http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/intellectual-disability-and-death-penalty

Halperin, R. (2005, July 23). Death Penalty News. Retrieved from http://lists.washlaw.edu/pipermail/deathpenalty/2005-July/003085.html